UCSB  LIB.RARV 


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6Bi  AMERICA'S  DEBT  TO  FRANCE 


"The  Most  Unalterable  Gratitude* 


BY 

William  d.  Guthrie 

Member  of  the  Lafayette  Anniversary  Committee 


Reprinted  by 

THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  FOR  THE  RELIEF 

OF  FRENCH  WAR  ORPHANS 

120  Broadway  (Rooms  1435-36) 

New  York  City 


From  the  New  York  Sun  of  Sunday,  September  3,  1916 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2007  witii  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


littp://www.archive.org/details/americasdebttofrOOgutliiala 


AMERICA'S  DEBT  TO  FRANCE 


'THE  MOST  UNALTERABLE  GRATITUDE' 


William  D.  Guthrie 
Member  of  the  Lafayette  Anniversary  Committee* 

Washington  declared  that  the  generosity  of  Louis  XVI 
to  America  during  the  War  of  the  Revolution  "must  in- 
spire every  citizen  of  the  States  with  sentiments  of  the 
most  unalterable  gratitude."  The  remembrance  of  our 
debt  to  France  has  undoubtedly  been  dim  at  times  during 
the  course  of  our  history  since  1783,  but  there  are  many 
evidences  of  its  full  revival  in  our  own  day.  The  heroism 
and  fortitude  and  the  misfortune  and  self-sacrifice  of  the 
French  people  during  the  past  two  years  have  re- 
awakened in  every  section  of  the  United  States,  East  and 
West,  North  and  South,  the  old  feeling  of  sympathy, 
affection  and  gratitude.  Even  among  our  citizens  of 
German  birth  or  descent  there  is  warm  sympathy  with 
France,  unstinted  admiration  of  her  heroic  spirit  and  con- 
duct, and  full  appreciation  of  the  historic  ties  which  bind 
the  hearts  of  Americans  to  the  French  people. 

The  celebration  of  the  anniversary  of  the  birth  of  the 
Marquis  de  Lafayette  is  singularly  fitting  and  appropriate, 
and  should  be  looked  upon  as  a  patriotic  duty.  Among  the 
generation  of  Frenchman  who  helped  us  in  gaining  our 
independence,  he  will  always  be  the  foremost  figure  as 
the  incarnation  of  the  spirit  of  pro-American  sympathy  and 
enthusiasm  that  produced  the  Treaty  of  Alliance  of  Feb- 
ruary 6,   1778,  and   made   possible   our  ultimate   triumph. 

*Reprinted  from  the  New  York  Sun  of  Sunday,  September  3,  1916 


While  on  board  "La  Victoire"  on  his  way  to  America,  he 
wrote  to  his  wife  that  he  regarded  his  Coming  military 
service  under  Washington,  what  it  truly  turned  out  to  be, 
as  "a  brevet  of  immortality."  He  earned  immortality  by 
heroism,  soldierly  zeal,  uprightness  and  loyalty  of  the 
highest  order,  and  he  won  not  only  the  undying  admiration 
and  affection  of  Washington  but  the  universal  and  im- 
mutable esteem  and  affection  of  the  American  officers  and 
soldiers  with  whom  he  served. 

In  the  past  we  have  been  charged  by  some  French 
writers  with  ingratitude.  The  most  dishonorable  and 
rmpardonable  of  all  crimes,  individual  or  national,  is 
ingratitude,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  at  an  early  day 
some  competent  historian  will  take  up  and  wholly  refute 
this  charge.  At  any  rate,  1  pray  that  the  charge  may  not 
be  made  of  this  generation  of  Americans. 

Such  an  historian  might  eloquently  point  out  the  strange 
nemesis  which  has  followed  the  history  of  the  French 
on  our  continent.  It  is  a  very  long  and  complicated  and 
an  extremely  sad  story,  each  series  of  splendid  and 
glorious  exploits  of  Frenchmen  being  followed  by  disaster 
and  eclipse.  Everywhere  on  our  continent  there  are  evi- 
dences of  heroic  services  by  French  explorers,  soldiers, 
priests  and  scholars — everywhere  monuments,  ideals,  tra- 
ditions and  institutions  which  have  sprung  from  French 
faith,  courage,  genius  and  art;  but  nowhere  has  France 
secured  adequate  return  or  recognition ;  nowhere  has  she 
reaped  material  rewards  from  the  seed  she  sowed.  Consider 
French  Canada,  planted  by  the  sacrifices  of  the  children  of 
France  and  growing  up  and  prospering  under  another  flag! 

Such  an  historian  would  also  be  able  to  explain  the 
causes  of  the  misunderstanding,  irritation  and  friction 
which  unfortunately  arose  between  the  governments  of  the 
United  States  and  France,  and  which  for  more  than  a  cen- 


tury  clouded  their  relations  and  chilled  the  underlying  feeling 
of  cordial  sympathy  and  aflt'ection  between  the  two  peoples. 
Too  often  the  governments  held  each  other  at  arm's  length, 
and  functionaries  and  politicians  often  misinterpreted  the 
feelings  of  the  people  and  misrepresented  the  permanent 
and  best  interests  of  their  respective  countries.  The  irrita- 
tion began  in  1790  with  our  first  tariff  law  and  the  tonnage 
duty  it  imposed,  which  the  French  believed  was  aimed  at 
them  and  which  led  to  retaliatory  measures.  Then  came 
President  Washington's  stand  for  neutrality  in  1793,  and 
Genet's  intolerable  affronts  to  Americans  compelling  the 
request  for  his  recall.  The  friction  became  more  acute  in 
1798  by  reason  of  the  many  high-handed  acts  of  the 
Directoire.  Indeed,  we  were  at  one  time  almost  drifting 
into  war,  for  there  were  actual  hostilities  at  sea  between 
American  and  French  vessels.  Then  followed  the  treat- 
ment by  Congress  of  the  claims  of  the  Frenchman  Beau- 
marchais  and  his  heirs,  and  our  haggling  over  the  account, 
which  was  not  settled  until  1835,  thirty-six  years  after  the 
death  of  Beaumarchais,  and  which  left  to  succeeding 
generations  of  Americans  a  reputation  among  Europeans 
for  parsimony  and  ingratitude.  It  shames  us  to  have  to 
confess  that  Congress,  after  a  delay  of  more  than  half  a 
century,  forced  a  settlement  of  a  just  claim  for  war  sup- 
plies furnished  by  Beaumarchais  during  the  Revolution,  on 
the  basis  of  our  paying  his  heirs  only  twenty-five  cents  on 
the  dollar.  In  fact,  we  paid  one-seventh  of  the  amount, 
adding  interest  at  three  per  cent.,  which  forty-two  years 
before  Alexander  Hamilton  had  decided  was  justly  due  to 
Beaumarchais.  Our  treatment  of  this  claim,  whatever  the 
excuse  and  however  our  national  government  may  have 
been  misled  by  the  jealousy  and  venom  of  Arthur  Lee,  will 
ever  remain  a  blot  on  our  fame.  It  is  one  of  those  pages 
in  our  history  which  should  be  expunged  even  at  this  late 
day. 


The  existing  coolness  was  intensified  in  1835-1836  by 
ihe  rudeness  of  President  Jackson  in  connection  with  the 
French  Spoliation  Claims,  leading  to  the  suspension  of 
diplomatic  relations,  the  United  States  recalling  Livingston 
from  Paris,  and  France  recalling  Pageot  from  Washington, 
and  bringing  us  very  nearly  to  war.  Later  came  the  un- 
friendliness of  Napoleon  III  during  our  Civil  War,  and 
then  his  ill-fated  campaign  in  Mexico,  which  was  regarded  by 
us  as  a  direct  menace  to  our  interests  as  well  as  a  deliberate 
violation  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine.  During  the  Spanish- 
American  War  of  1898  the  affection  of  Americans  was  again 
chilled  by  the  natural  sympathy  of  France  with  her  neigh- 
bor Spain,  although  the  conduct  of  the  French  government 
was  irreproachable. 

Finally,  the  purchase  by  us  in  1902  of  the  property  of 
the  bankrupt  French  Panama  Canal  Company  eliminated 
the  last  real  danger  from  conflicting  interests,  and  during 
the  past  thirteen  years — contemporaneous  with  the  service 
at  Washington  of  America's  staunch  friend,  Ambassador 
Jusserand — Franco-American  relations  have  been  on  a  more 
satisfactory  basis  than  at  any  time  since  1790.  Throughout 
all  the  years,  however,  the  American  people  have  never 
torgotten  how  much  France  contributed  to  the  ultimate  suc- 
cess and  triumph  of  the  Revolution. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  long  before  the  Treaty  of 
Alliance  of  February  6,  1778,  the  French  had  rendered 
much  material  assistance  to  the  American  cause.  Aside 
from  the  free  gifts  of  Louis  XVI  and  the  personal  services 
and  contributions  of  such  men  as  Lafayette,  much  of  the 
effective  equipment  of  the  Continental  Army  had  come  from 
France.  Our  own  historian  Perkins  in  his  admirable 
"France  in  the  American  Revolution,"  writing  of  Beau- 
marchais'  contributions,  says :  "Beaumarchais'  ships 
escaped  the  perils  of  the  sea  and  the  vigilance  of  British 


cruisers.  They  reached  Portsmouth  and  landed  greatly 
needed  supplies  in  time  to  be  used  against  Burgoyne. 
Many  a  soldier  who  marched  in  that  campaign  [June- 
October,  1777]  wore  shoes  on  his  feet,  a  coat  on  his  back, 
and  carried  a  gun  on  his  shoulder,  which  came  from  the 
magazines  of  Louis  XVI,  and  had  been  procured  and  fur- 
nished by  the  author  of  the  'Barbier  de  Seville,'  Several 
more  ships,  loaded  by  Beaumarchais,  were  allowed  to  sail 
from  France  and  in  due  time  reached  their  destination.  By 
September,  1777,  he  had  shipped  munitions  of  war  to  the 
value  of  five  million  livres."  But  not  until  February  of  the 
following  year  was  the  formal  Treaty  of  Alliance  signed. 

The  preeminent  service  rendered  by  France  during  the 
American  Revolution  has  never,  it  seems  to  me,  been 
adequately  recognized  by  American  historians,  with  the 
exception  of  Perkins — certainly  not  in  the  histories  used 
in  our  schools — perhaps  in  some  instances  because  of  the 
natural  disinclination  to  concede  how  near  the  Americans 
came  to  utter  failure,  and  perhaps  also  because  of  the 
equally  natural  hesitation  to  give  to  our  allies  most  of  the 
credit,  for  success.  Yet,  surely,  no  one  reading  the  records 
of  those  days  as  they  are  now  at  hand  for  our  perusal  can 
fail  to  realize  that,  whithout  the  soldiers  and  funds  and 
support  of  France,  the  American  Revolution  would  have 
been  crushed.  The  victory  was  a  joint  victory,  and  not 
ours  alone. 

The  efiforts  of  the  Alliance  Francaise,  the  Lafayette  Fund 
for  French  Soldiers,  the  Museum  of  French  Art,  the  France- 
America  Society,  the  Lafayette  Anniversary  Committee, 
and  other  organizations  which  have  recently  sprung  into 
activity,  have  undoubtedly  revived  the  study  of  the  services 
rendered  to  our  country  by  France  and  brought  renewed 
and  fuller  appreciation  and  recognition  of  our  debt  to  the 
French  people.     The  celebration  generally  of  Lafayette's 


birthday  must  be  particularly  stimulating.  Appropriate 
and  eloquent  tributes  will  be  paid  to  his  services,  as  well 
as  to  the  services  of  his  French  companions  in  arms,  and 
to  the  generous  pecuniary  assistance  of  King  Louis  and 
France.  Brandywine,  Valley  Forge,  Monmouth  Court 
House  and  Yorktown  will  always  furnish  a  deep  source  of 
inspiration  to  those  who  write  or  speak  of  Lafayette. 
Crowning  all  is  the  love  of  Lafayette  for  Washington, 
whom  he  idolized ;  Lafayette's  superb  loyalty  to  his  chief; 
the  affection  as  of  father  to  son  with  which  the  grandest 
and  noblest  of  all  Americans  regarded  the  young  and  ardent 
and  idealistic  French  aristocrat,  the  gallant  Black  Mus- 
keteer of  King  Louis'  household,  who  served  so  bravely  and 
unselfishly  by  his  side.  In  truth,  the  name  of  Lafayette 
must  always  be  associated  in  the  hearts  of  Americans  with 
that  of  Washington.  Those  who  have  visited  Mount  Ver- 
non will  at  once  recall  "Lafayette's  room."  One  of  the 
finest  pages  of  American  history  was  written  when  Presi- 
dent Andrew  Jackson,  on  hearing  of  the  death  of  Lafayette 
in  1831,  ordered,  on  behalf  of  the  whole  American  people, 
"that  the  same  honors  be  rendered  upon  this  occasion  at  the 
different  military  and  naval  stations  as  were  observed  upon 
the  decease  of  Washington,  the  Father  of  his  country,  and 
his  contemporary  in  arms."  It  is  a  poetic  and  beautiful 
sentiment  which  has  prompted  the  Alliance  Francaise  to 
resolve  to  lay  on  September  6th  at  the  base  of  the  statues 
of  Washington  and  Lafayette  in  Union  Square  in  the  City 
of  New  York  identical  wreaths"  of  American  flowers  inter- 
twined in  the  colors  of  the  two  flags — the  tricolor  of  both 
nations. 

Notwithstanding  the  views  of  some  historians,  many 
Americans  are  convinced  of  the  truth  of  the  following 
propositions : 

1.  That  the  assistance  rendered  America  and  the  sac- 
rifices  made   by   Lafayette   and   his   companions   in    arms 


during  the  American  Revolution  were  disinterested  and 
prompted  by  the  almost  universal  enthusiasm  of  the  French 
people  of  all  classes  of  that  generation  for  the  American 
cause. 

2.  That  Louis  XVI  and  his  ministers,  Turgot,  Necker, 
Vergennes,  etc.,  did  not  believe  that  the  interests  of  France 
would  be  promoted  by  a  war  with  England,  but  were 
opposed  to  it,  and  predicted  that  its  cost  would  be  ruinous. 

3.  That  the  signing  of  the  Treaty  of  Alliance  of  1778 
and  France's  active  participation  in  the  war  were  forced 
upon  the  King  and  his  ministers  by  the  invincible  sym- 
pathy and  constancy  of  the  French  people  themselves,  who 
were  ready  and  willing  to  make  the  necessary  sacrifices, 
and  that  in  entering  the  war  France  had  no  other  object 
than  to  help  us  secure  our  freedom  and  independence. 

4.  That  the  ultimate  cost  of  the  war  was  ruinous  to 
France  and  vastly  greater  than  most  Americans  have  ever 
realized. 

The  French  King's  advisers  well  knew  that  the  material 
interests  of  France  required  her  to  remain  neutral  and 
profit  by  the  embarrassment  of  England,  and  they  would 
never  have  consented  to  war  if  their  hands  had  not  been 
forced  by  the  popularity  of  the  American  cause  and  the 
ardent  sympathy  of  the  French  people  with  our  struggle 
for  independence.  The  latest  English  historian  upon  the 
subject,  Sir  George  Otto  Trevelyan,  writes  in  his 
"American  Revolution"  that  "if  France  had  been  content 
to  maintain  a  pacific  attitude  throughout  the  whole  period 
of  the  American  troubles,  she  would  have  been  rewarded 
by  an  immense  accession  of  wealth,  and  a  secure  and  ex- 
alted position  among  the  nations  of  the  world.  Those 
advantages,  moreover,  would  have  accrued  to  her  auto- 
matically and  inevitably,  without  risk  or  exertion  on  her 
part.  ..." 


In  order  to  realize  the  extent  of  the  "magnanimous 
policy"  of  France  towards  America,  as  Hamilton  expressed 
it,  every  American  should  read  the  Treaty  of  Alliance  of 
February  6,  1778,  unique  in  our  own  history,  and  the  most 
generous  in  the  annals  of  the  world  on  the  part  of  a  great 
nation  dealing  with  a  weak  people.  The  prime  minister 
of  Spain  pronounced  it  "a  glaring  instance  of  Quixotism." 
In  it  France  stipulated  for  no  advantage  to  herself  and  no 
reimbursement.  On  the  contrary,  she  agreed  to  make  no 
claim,  whatever  might  be  the  outcome  of  the  war — even 
if  Canada  were  reconquered. 

There  were,  of  course,  all  kinds  of  intrigues  and  collateral 
movements,  such  as  the  pressure  from  the  military  party 
and  from  Frederick  of  Prussia  and  the  natural  longing 
for  revenge  on  England.  Nevertheless,  the  controlling 
influence  was  the  general  demand  of  the  French  people,  a 
demand  fundamentally  unselfish  and  which  ultimately  be- 
came irresistible.  Lafayette  more  than  any  other  indi- 
vidual brought  about  this  demand.  And  we  should  also 
remember  that  the  French  Queen,  Marie  Antoinette,  was 
enthusiastically  pro-American. 

I  hesitate  to  stir  up  the  old  and  buried  controversies 
as  to  the  total  of  loans  and  gifts  to  America  from  Louis 
XVI  and  various  individual  Frenchmen.  I  doubt  whether 
even  the  direct  loans  were  ever  entirely  repaid ;  certainly 
the  debt  to  Beaumarchais  was  never  fully  discharged,  and 
none  of  the  personal  gifts  was  ever  returned,  so  far  as  I 
now  recall,  except  in  the  case  of  Lafayette.  We  must 
accept  the  statement  of  Pickering,  our  Secretary  of  State 
in  1797,  who  in  a  despatch  to  the  American  Minister,  at 
Paris  declared  that  "all  the  loans  and  supplies  received 
from  France  in  the  American  War,  amounting  nearly  to 
53,000,000  livres,"  had  been  paid  in  1795,  that  is,  twelve 
years  after  the  Treaty  of  Peace. 


There  still  remains  the  far  greater  item,  never  repaid, 
of  the  actual  cost  to  the  royal  treasury  of  the  participation 
of  France  in  the  war.  It  was  this  cost,  as  matter  of  fact, 
which  bankrupted  the  government  of  King  Louis  and  was 
one  of  the  principal  causes  of  the  French  Revolution  seven 
years  later.  Nor  did  the  King  of  France  plunge  into  the 
Franco-American  Alliance  and  the  consequent  war  with 
England  in  ignorance  of  its  cost  and  danger.  Turgot  had 
pointed  out  to  him  that  the  first  cannon  shot  in  any  such 
war  would  mean  the  bankruptcy  of  France.  As  it  turned 
out,  the  salvation  of  America  involved  the  utter  ruin  of 
ihe  French  monarchy. 

There  is,  however,  much  uncertainty  as  to  the  actual 
figures  of  the  cost  to  France  of  participation  in  the  war. 
The  French  archives  show  a  direct  expenditure  of 
1,50?, 500,000  livres,  but  these  figures  do  not  include  pay- 
ments made  in  and  after  the  year  1783,  which  must  have 
been  very  large.  Professor  Marion  of  the  College  of  France 
has  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  total  expenditures  were 
fully  -2,000.000,000  livres.  Much  information  will  be  found 
in  his  Historic  Financiere  de  la  France  depuis  1715  and  in 
Gomel's  Les  Causes  Finanderes  de  la  Revolution  Francaise. 
Fiske  in  his  "Critical  Period"  puts  the  expenditure  of  France 
at  1.400.000.000  francs.  Trevelyan  states  the  following  in 
a  note  to  his  "American  Revolution'' :  "It  was  calculated 
that,  between  the  years  1778  and  1783,  the  war  with  Eng- 
land cost  the  French  Treasury  forty-eight  million  pounds 
sterling.  It  was  the  main  cause  of  those  financial  difficulties 
which  led  immediately  up  to  the  Revolution  of  1789."  This 
would  be  'equivalent  to  1,200,000,000  livres  (francs),  or 
240,000,000  dollars,  at  a  time  when  the  purchasing  power 
of  money  was  very  much  greater  than  in  the  twentieth 
century.  Indeed,  it  is  probably  not  an  exaggeration  to 
say  that  the  purchasing  power  of  gold  was  then  nearly 
three  times  what  it  is  in  our  day. 


10 

In  an  introduction  to  Perkins'  "France  in  the  American 
Revolution,"  Ambassador  Jusserand  wrote  in  1911  as  fol- 
lows: "Ruinous  it  was  indeed,  costing  the  French  treasury- 
seven  hundred  and  seventy-two  millions  of  dollars ;  but 
public  opinion  remained  faithful  to  the  struggling  States. 
The  people  groaned  under  the  weight  of  taxation,  but 
never  grumbled  at  the  expense  of  such  a  cause.  Peace 
came,  France  kept  her  word ;  she  did  not  try  to  recover  any 
of  her  possessions  on  the  American  continent ;  she  made  a 
pro- American  peace,  not  an  anti-English  one.  Public  opinion 
again  was  fully  satisfied ;  what  it  wanted  had  been  secured ; 
there  were  no  protests  against  the  moderation  shown 
towards  the  adversary ;  the  joy  was  universal.  Years  after 
the  war  the  same  pro-American  feelings  which  had  appar- 
ently taken  deep  root  still  prevailed,  as  shown  by  the  French 
National  Assembly's  adjourning  at  the  news  of  the  death 
of  Franklin ;  the  French  army  going  into  mourning  at  the 
death  of  Washington,  and  the  glowing  eulogies  of  the  new 
republic  still  sent  home  by  its  French  visitors." 

M.  Jusserand  in  a  note  refers  to  Perkins'  work  as  his 
authority  for  the  figure  "seven  hundred  and  seventy-two 
millions  of  dollars,"  but  he  did  not  independently  verify 
Perkins'  figures  in  view  of  the  latter's  reputation  for 
accuracy.  Perkins,  however,  did  not  say  whether  it  was 
dollars  or  livres.  His  work  was  published  after  his  death. 
Since  corresponding  with  his  widow,  it  now  seems  to  me 
that  Mr.  Perkins  may  have  meant  livres  and  not  dollars, 
although  livres  would  represent  a  figure  much  below  the 
total  cost  as  shown  by  the  records  now  available.  In  a 
note  found  among  Mr.  Perkins'  papers  is  the  following: 
"Chas.  Gomel,  Les  Derniers  Controleurs  (pp.  36-37) :  A 
pamphlet  appearing  in  July,  1782,  calculated  that  the 
amount  which  American  Independence  had  cost  down  to 
that  time  was  772  millions  and  that  commercial  relations 
had  not  become  more  important."     When  this  pamphlet 


11 

was  published,  the  expenses  of  the  year  1782,  part  of  those 
of  1781,  and,  of  course,  those  which  accrued  in  1783,  were 
not  fully  known  and  are  not  included  in  the  estimate. 

In  considering  the  inevitable  expense  assumed  by  France, 
it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  burden  was  not  confined 
to  sending  fleets  and  armies  to  America,  the  West  Indies  and 
the  Floridas,  but  necessitated  a  very  costly  naval  war  with 
the  greatest  maritime  power  of  history,  and  necessitated 
also  the  protection  of  French  ports  and  dependencies  by 
fleets  and  armies,  and  campaigns  not  only  in  America  but 
also  in  Europe,  Africa  and  Asia.  The  great  naval  victory 
of  SufTern  was  won  in  Asia.  It  is,  therefore,  quite  possible, 
if  not  probable,  that  the  total  cost  of  the  war  to  France 
during  the  five  years  of  its  continuance  was  fully  $772,- 
000,000,  although  the  official  records,  as  preserved  but  not 
by  any  means  complete,  do  not  support  so  high  a  figure. 

But  even  if  the  total  was  only  1,300,000,000,  or  1,500,- 
000,000  or  2,000,000,000  livres  (that  is,  approximately 
240,000,000,  or  300,000,000,  or  400,000,000  dollars),  and 
not  772,000,000  dollars,  the  amount  was  still  stupendous 
for  those  days  and  for  a  country  having  a  population  esti- 
mated at  22,000,000.  This  prodigal  outpouring  of  treasure 
brought  France  practically  no  advantage  or  benefit;  in 
fact,  less  than  no  gain,  except  the  withdrawal  of  the  Eng- 
lish Commissioner  from  Dunkirk. 

The  amount  expended  in  our  cause  has  certainly  never 
been  repaid  by  us  in  any  way  or  form ;  and  whilst  this 
expenditure  for  our  benefit  could  never  be  regarded  strictly 
as  a  debt  in  the  commercial  or  business  sense,  it  surely  was 
and  still  is  a  moral  obligation  for  generous  and  unselfish 
service  rendered  to  us  in  our  dire  need  at  the  most  critical 
period  in  our  history,  an  obligation  which,  in  the  noble 
words  of  Washington,  must  always  call  for  "the  most 
unalterable  gratitude" — unforgettable,  imperishable,  eternal 


— on  the  part  of  every  citizen  of  the  United  States.  That 
feeling  of  gratitude  should  now  prompt  Americans  of  all 
classes  to  see  to  it  that  the  bereaved  and  orphaned  and 
maimed  and  destitute  of  the  heroic  French  people  shall  not 
suffer  or  be  allowed  to  want  whilst  we  are  enjoying  the 
abundance  of  the  blessed  country  which  French  valor  and 
sacrifice  did  so  much  to  render  free  and  independent. 

The  celebration  of  the  anniversary  of  Lafayette's  birth 
on  September  6th  should  be  availed  of  as  a  fitting  occasion 
to  show  the  French  people  and  the  world  that  history  shall 
not  inscribe  on  its  rolls  that  the  Americans  of  the  present 
generation  failed  in  the  gratitude  to  which  Washington 
pledged  Americans  for  all  time  and  that  France  in  her 
affliction  did  not  appeal  to  us  in  vain.  Better  and  nobler 
still  will  it  be  if  no  appeal  to  us  shall  be  necessary,  but  if, 
inspired  by  the  lofty  spirit  and  example  of  disinterested 
friendship  and  self-sacrifice  of  Lafayette  and  his  country- 
men, we  Americans  rush  unasked  to  the  succor  of  the 
French.  We  should  be  proud  and  rejoice  in  the  privilege 
of  at  last  being  able  to  return  in  some  measure  the  great 
service  so  generously,  heroically  and  unselfishly  rendered 
to  us  a  century  and  a  third  ago  when  we  were  poor,  weak 
and  friendless.  Every  American  man,  woman  and  child 
who  contributes  to  the  aid  and  relief  of  the  French  maimed, 
orphaned  and  destitute  in  these  days  of  appalling  calamity 
and  devastating  war  truly  helps  to  repay  part  of  the  debt 
which  we  have  long  owed  to  a  great,  generous  and  noble 
people  and  never  discharged.  It  would,  indeed,  be  writing 
a  sublime  and  imperishable  record  in  our  own  history  if 
the  present  generation  of  Americans  out  of  their  plenty 
should  now  raise  and  apply  to  the  relief  of  the  French 
people  in  their  suffering  a  fund  commensurate  with  that 
which  France  so  generously  expended  for  us  in  our  distress 
and  need  in  the  days  of  Washington  and  Lafayette. 


THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  FOR  THE 
RELIEF  OF  FRENCH  WAR  ORPHANS 

(INCORPORATED   19le) 


HONORARY    VICE-PRESIDENTS 


The  Hoxorable  Edward  Douglass  White 
Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States 

His  Eminence  John  Cardinal  Farley 

Archbishop  of  New  York 
The  Right  Reverend  David  H.  Greer 

Bishop  of  New  York 
The  Honorable  William  G.  Sharp 

Ambassador  to  the  French  Republic 
The  Honorable  Joseph  H.  Choate 

Former  Ambassador   to   Great  Britain 


The  Honorable  Robert  Bacon 

Former  Ambassador  to  the  French  Republic 
The  Honorable  Myron  T.  Herrick 

Former  Ambassador  to  the  French  Republic 
Dr.  Nicholas  Murray  Butler 

President  of  Columbia  University 
Dr.  John  Grier  Hibben 

President  of  Princeton  University 
Dr.  John  H.  Finley 

Commissioner   of   Education   of   the    State 
of  New  York 

DIRECTORS    OF    THE    SOCIETY 


George  F.   Baker,  Jr. 

James  M.  Beck 

S.  Reading  Bertron 

Cornelius  X.  Bliss,  Jr. 

James  Byrne 

TiiOMAS  L.  Chadbourne,  Jr. 

Thomas  Cochran 

R.  Fulton  Cutting 

Charles  Stewart  Davison 

Eugene  Delano 

Daniel  Guggenheim 

William  D.   Guthrie 


Alexander  J.  Hemphill 
Adrian   Iselin 
George   Grant   Mason 
Charles  T.  Mathews 
Ambrose  Monell 
J.  PiERPONT  Morgan 
N'lCToR  Morawetz 
DwiGHT  W.  Morrow 
(Jtis  a.  Myg.\tt 
Seward  Prosser 


OFFICERS 


Percy  A.  RocK.'t feller 
Sylvanus  L.  Schoonmaker 
John  W.  Simpson 
Charles  Steele 
James  Stillman 
Lewis  A.  Stimson 
Willard  D.  Straight 
Henry  M.  Tilford 
Edward  Tuck 
Frank  A.   Vanderlip 
George  W.  Wickersham 
Albert  H.  Wigcin 


William  D.  Guthrie,  President 
James    Stillman,    Vice-President 
J.  Pierpont  Morgan,  Vice-President 
Ambrose  Monell,  Vice-President 
Thomas  Cochran.  Treasurer 
Reginald  H.  Giles,  Asst.  Treasurer 
Joseph    Bucklin    Bishop,    General   Manager 
Snowden  a.  Fahnestock,  Secretary 
Regis  H.  Post,  Executive  Secretary 


GENERAL    OFFICES 

ROOMS     1435-1436.     120    BROADWAY 

NEW     YORK    CITY 


